They beat El Salvador 5-0 in their opening match and face Cuba on Thursday in Charlotte, North Carolina.

The general secretary of the Mexican Football Federation (Femexfut) Decio de Maria said the quintet had been suspended from the tournament.

He added that any further sanctions, which could include bans of up to two years, would be determined by Femexfut.

“Late on Wednesday we received the anti-doping analysis of 14 players of the ‘Tri’ [national team] that were done on 21 May and five players showed positive,” De Maria announced at a news conference.

“The substance for which they were positive is Clenbuterol. The players will be withdrawn from coach Jose Manuel de la Torre’s team.”

De Maria added: “The cause is believed to be because of [eating] beef or chicken between 17 and 20 May so an investigation will be made with the food suppliers. For the time being we don’t see any negligence by anyone, not even theirs.

“We know there is a health alert throughout the country because of food contaminated with Clenbuterol and that will be taken into account for the investigation.”

In April, Germany’s anti-doping agency [Nada] advised against athletes eating products from Mexico because it might increase the risk of involuntary positive doping results. Mexico denied there was a problem.